Nothing prepares you for that sinking feeling in your stomach. Not even 5 years of live streams on social media. It is a rather strange experience: listening to yourself telling your own story of life. "What if I said something without much thinking and now it will remain publicly available to anybody in the world … Continue reading Podcast for Bloom TV network
A book about ikebana by Gustie Herrigel "Zen in the Art of Flower Arrangement" is a small but full of insights read. The true insight into the spirit of the ikebana art the way it was seen by foreigners in Japan a hundred years ago.
Have you ever been given a perfect opportunity and then you blew it because you simply were not ready? Yepp, happened to me. It was quite a while ago. This was one of the first big ikebana events I attended. The famous and hugely admired in Europe Tetsunori Kawana was giving a demonstration and a … Continue reading 3 things I learned from being fired as an ikebana assistant Joshu (助手)
Attending all the flower events has a nice side benefit for me - I am discovering Belgium. There are apparently plenty of castles big and small hidden all over the countryside. This time it is the Ikebana International exhibition in Wissekerke Castle near Antwerpen. The castle is a very sweet, nicely designed building with beautifully … Continue reading Ikebana International Expo Wissekerke Castle
I have been reflecting on the meditative aspect of ikebana already for a while. This article covers my discoveries. If you ask your friend Wikipedia “what is ikebana?” it will say that it is an art of arranging flowers. But then it will also tell you that it is a Kado – the way of … Continue reading Ikebana as meditation
You have perhaps noticed that I love creating ikebana installations for events. Themed events are even better: they give constraints and nothing fires up my creativity like having limitations. This time the event is called Fleurs Des Dames and I am the only ikebanist in the crowd of Western florists. It is an excellent opportunity … Continue reading Ikebana at Fleurs Des Dames Event
Note: If you dropped by from social media to download the morimono step-by-step workshop materials just click here, enter your e-mail and it will be sent to you instantly. What do fruits and vegetables have to do with flower arrangements? Japanese do not discriminate: any plant material can be used in ikebana, not only flowers … Continue reading Morimono – use of fruits and vegetables in Japanese flower arrangements
The leader of the Sogetsu school of ikebana have kindly answers questions of teachers and students collected with the help of Facebook Anticipation was building up over the last couple of months. When earlier this year Ms. Teshigahara was visiting Belgium we wanted to interview her. We collected the questions of ikebana teachers and students … Continue reading Interview with Akane Teshigahara
The 2016 report from the Amaryllis Beloeil annual competition in Belgium. This year we enjoyed the amaryllis viewings over the Easter weekend. This explains the giant Easter egg which was greeting all the visitors at the entrance. This competition takes place in a nice historical setting of Chateau de Beloeil and (importantly) participants get a decent … Continue reading Amaryllis Competition at Chateau de Beloeil
A helpful list of 70 Janapese terms frequently used in Ikebana (downloadable in PDF format) When I started learning Ikebana Japanese words Kenzan, Moribana and a few others entered my world. It was fun and it felt exotic. It also gave some subtle sense of belonging to a group connected by a distant, unfamiliar language. … Continue reading Essential Japanese vocabulary for Ikebana students